


Words Are Knives

by arashimoon6



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: - Story of my Life, AT LEAST NOT THAT MUCH, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Doctor's Appointments, Engaged Victuuri, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Katsuki Yuuri Needs a Hug, M/M, Menstruation, My First Work in This Fandom, Podium Family, Protective Victor Nikiforov, Protective Yuri Plisetsky, Tags Are Fun, Trans Katsuki Yuuri, Trans Male Character, Yuri Plisetsky has Mafia Connections, Yuri Plisetsky is a Brat, brief mention of surgery, but he didnt mean to be, fight me, mentions of transphobia, post-season one, summaries are not, which sucks I dont care who you are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-02 12:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14544624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arashimoon6/pseuds/arashimoon6
Summary: Yuri doesn't have a very, shall we say, friendly attitude. He's rude to everyone though, so at least he doesn't discriminate. He at least tries not to say anything too harsh to the people he actually likes. Apparently, he's not perfect (who knew, right?). One day, he crosses a line unintentionally, resulting in Yuuri walking away with a silence that actually scares him and Viktor sending him home from practice early. He doesn't see the big deal. Everyone makes period jokes, right?





	1. The Fear of Falling Apart

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep. I kind of liked the result so I thought I'd post it. If anyone here is reading my other story - you know, the one I haven't updated since the end of last year - I have no excuses and I'm sorry. I will return to it, but it will be a while.
> 
> Chapter and story titles courtesy of 'This is Gospel' by Panic! at the Disco
> 
> Warning for mentions of transphobia and the dysphoria that can come from menstruating. Additional warning because I am not transgender. I have no first-hand experience. If anything I say is offensive or incorrect, PLEASE let me know so I can fix it.

The chill of the ice rink combined with the scraping of skates on ice and the feeling of moving on the ice was soothing for Yuuri. He was in his happy place, and very little could make him happier. Well, he could think of a few things, but all things considered, this wasn’t too bad at.

He should have expected it to be disrupted.

He trained in Russia, now. It gave Viktor the opportunity to return to the competition with a coach of his own while keeping Yuuri close enough to coach him with a little help from Yakov if he ever needed it. Some things never change, of course. He still preferred to have as few people as possible around when he practiced. Today it was Viktor and him with the addition of Yuri, who had demanded Viktor keep helping him perfect his quad flip. At first, Yuuri was a little irritated that Yuri had been so persistent about taking up his practice time, but he didn’t think it was very fair of him to think that way after he himself kept insisting that he get the rink  to himself as much as possible. With all that in mind, he had brushed his irritation aside.

A piece broke off the framework of peacefulness he had constructed when he and Yuri landed roughly at the same time, accidentally moving toward each other until they collided. It wasn’t a hard collision, and both of them stayed on their feet. Thinking he could glue the little piece back in place after something so small, he offered a genuine, “Sorry, Yurio. You okay?”

A glare from Yuri and the glue wasn’t sticky enough. The piece fell back off. It was a small piece, though. He could do without it. “You should watch where you’re going, Katsudon.”

“It was an accident, Yuri,” he said, perhaps with a little more bite than he meant to use. In his defense, it had been an accident and he was feeling a little frustration at himself for not landing his own triple axel. It wasn’t his best move, perhaps, but he hadn’t had trouble with it in a while.

“Well don’t let it happen again,” Yuri said, glare intensifying.

Normally, Yuuri would have handled this with a roll of his eyes or a steady gaze to show he wasn’t bothered by the saltiness. Normally, Yuuri really wouldn’t have been bothered by the statement. Normally, Yuri being a typical teenager didn’t faze him. Normally, he would tell himself that the self-proclaimed Ice Tiger of Russia would grow up on his own time, so there was no point in fighting with him. Normally, Yuuri would tell himself it wasn’t his job to keep track of Yuri’s manners, anyway. Normally, the boy that he knew was his friend couldn’t bother him with anything he said because Yuuri knew he cared about him in his own way.

Today Yuuri was suddenly not in the mood, so he shot a glare of his own at the teenager and said, “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to be nice to someone every so often.”

With four words, the fragile framework disintegrated without a trace. Yuri rolled his eyes, and in a disdainful voice gave Yuuri a disparaging, “Someone’s on their period.”

It felt like being shot. Before he did something drastic and punched the stupid teenager in the face, or worse, started crying in front of him -again - he turned and skated to the opening in the barrier around the ice. He slapped on his skate guards and marched to the locker room without a backwards glance. He ignored Yuri’s outraged, “Hey, we're not finished!” and Viktor’s, “Where are you going? We weren’t planning to go home for another 2 hours.”

He went straight to the locker room, pounded the side of his fist against the door of Yuri’s locker, then nearly pulled his own off the hinges with how hard he jerked it when opening it. He normally wasn’t this aggressive when he got emotional, but this wasn’t normal. Nothing about this was normal!

The sound of the locker room door opening didn’t register with him. He was too distracted with stomping his feet into his shoes and throwing his skates into his bag – treating him rougher than he _ever_ had. He jumped when a hand came to rest on his shoulder. He turned to glare at whoever thought he looked like he wanted company, but he softened it when he saw his fiancé standing there.

Viktor’s own facial features softened as well when their eyes met. He brushed a hand over Yuuri’s cheek. “Please don’t cry, my love,” he said.

Yuuri hadn’t realized he’d been crying. Of course, he was. Just like a stupid girl. He frustratedly swiped at the trace of tears on his face. "I’m fine,” he said. _I just want to go home and never go anywhere else ever again for as long as I live._

“Yuuri, please don’t tell me you’re fine when I can clearly see that you aren’t. Talk to me. What has you so troubled?”

When Viktor sat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, all the tension streamed out of him. Viktor waited patiently while he gathered his courage to speak, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek every so often.

“It’s just something stupid that Yuri said,” he decided to start with.

“I saw when you collided, and I realized he wasn’t happy with you, but I didn’t expect him to say anything cruel or I would have gone over there with the two of you,” Viktor said, looking a little guilty.

“It’s not your fault,” Yuuri assured him with a brief smile. “To be honest, what he said normally wouldn’t have bothered me _that_ much. It just came at the worst time possible. I’m just not completely feeling myself today, for obvious reasons. When he didn’t graciously accept the apology I probably didn’t even need to give him to begin with, I told him that it wouldn’t kill him to be nice to someone on occasion. I don’t know who he’s been hanging out with that says stuff like this, but the words he responded with were ‘someone’s on their period’ and I just couldn’t handle that today. I mean, normally I’d just call him out on being rude or leave it be, because it’s a stupid thing to say, even if you are a girl and you are on your period. But with everything this morning… I guess I just broke.”

“Oh, Yuuri,” Viktor said, holding his fiancé closer to him. “I’m so sorry.” He didn’t say anything else, because he wouldn’t have been heard anyway. Yuuri had started another round of crying, spurred on by having to retell what had upset him in the first place. Only, this time he had a lot more to show for it than tears on his cheeks. He was full-on sobbing, his body shaking with emotions. Whether it was having to think about it again on its own or the added fact that he had someone to hold him together and keep him from completely falling apart, Viktor didn’t know. He didn’t care. He was too busy trying to comfort the wonderful man in front of him. He still wasn’t great with crying people, but he’d gotten better at it.

By the time Yuuri’s sobs had tapered off, he had a headache and his eyes were puffy and red. He felt exhausted and was distantly glad he and Viktor had taken their (*cough* unnecessary *cough*) car to the rink today so he wouldn’t have to walk the 12 blocks to their apartment. He let Viktor keep his arm around him as they gathered their things and even allowed the taller man to open his car door for him when they got outside.

On the way home, he tried not to think, but it was impossible. He kept going over all the horrible things people had said to him about being transgender. He’d heard them all. ‘You’ll never be a real boy,’ when another student caught him checking his binder in the bathroom. ‘Why don’t you just do us all a favor and wipe yourself off the face of the earth?’ from a cousin when his extended family was told. ‘You can play dress up as much as you want but you’re still a girl,’ from a cashier at a clothing store. ‘Oh, are you getting a nose job, too,’ when a girl he'd known pre-transition had run into him at the grocery store. ‘Only girls have vaginas,’ from a classmate. ‘Whoa, you didn’t tell me you were a girl down there,’ from everyone he had ever managed to get passed the first date with, before Viktor, of course. That and, ‘You don’t actually expect me to keep going on dates with you now, right?’

They all circled around in his head no matter how hard he tried to make them stop. He knew – thought – Yuri wasn’t a bigot. He was actually pretty sure that in a different situation, where Yuri knew he was transgender and had been with him when those things were said to him, the teenager would have actually punched some of the people for what they’d said to him. He’d also like to think that Yuri wouldn’t have said that to him if he’d known that he was _right_ and the hell it had put him through in the morning.

He had a deep admiration for the other transgender people out there who heard the same things he had, only said ‘fuck you’ instead of getting this emotional about it. He wished he could be one of them, but he just wasn’t.

“Yuuri, we’re home,” Viktor said quietly, getting his attention.

He smiled over at him, silently thanking him for remembering how tender his head could be after crying and that he didn’t like high volume anything when his head hurt. He opened his own door this time, and Viktor only held his hand instead of his upper body. Viktor was usually a tactile person anyway, so that wasn't out of the ordinary. It made him feel a little bit like things were settling back to how they were supposed to be.

Makkachin greeted them at the door, wagging her tail at the surprise of her masters returning home early. Yuuri was happy to distract himself by scratching behind her ears while Viktor hung up their coats and put their bags down in the bedroom.

“Why don’t we get your comfortable, my love?” Viktor suggested, coming back to his side.

Yuuri stood and nodded, following Viktor into the bathroom where there was already warm water in the tub – when had Viktor done that? He let Viktor help him take his clothes off, set his glass aside on the counter, and then hold his hand as he stepped into the bath. He was a little surprised when, instead of leaving him to it, Viktor knelt down on the floor next to the tub with his sleeves rolled up. His confusion must have been clear on his face because Viktor kissed his cheek and said, “I’m going to take care of you.” Yuuri just nodded.

Viktor filled a cup with water and poured it over Yuuri’s head to get his hair wet, then washed it with his citrus-scented shampoo before repeating the action of pouring water over his head to rinse it out. Viktor’s hands massaged his conditioner in next and rinsed it out as well. He used their shared body wash (shared because Viktor had a specific brand he liked that was supposed to be really good for your skin. Yuuri had agreed to use it for his skin as well, nostly to make Viktor happy. When they went shopping, he’d been overwhelmed by the variety of scents available. They’d been staring at the 80 or so bottles for 15 minutes when Viktor had again urged him to choose whichever one he liked the best. When Yuuri had replied, saying he didn’t see why he couldn’t just share Viktor’s, the other skater had actually been really excited by the prospect. The memory made Yuuri smile a little) to get rid of the sweat that had collected on Yuuri’s body during practice. He didn’t flinch at cleaning between Yuuri’s legs and moved on when he was done. Yuuri stood up from the bath feeling better already.

After wrapping him in a cozy towel, Viktor ran to their bedroom to get some new clothes for Yuuri. He came back with a pair of flannel pajama pants and one of Viktor’s own sweaters. He also brought a pair of panties, because Yuuri honestly didn’t mind wearing them when the mood hit him, so he already had some on hand. They’d actually had to throw a pair away that morning because Yuuri had worn them to bed and he'd gotten panicky at both the prospect of having to be reminded of this every time he wore them and the idea of having to fight with blood stains on a pair of clothes again. There was the dreaded pad as well, of course. There was nothing to be done, though. They had to do something about the blood. He was a little relieved that he only needed an ultra slim one, at least.

He was helped with getting dressed and then Viktor combed his hair lovingly before tucking him into bed. He wasn’t particularly sleepy, but it did feel nice to be all cozy under their blankets, surrounded by his and Viktor’s combined scents and feeling completely loved after the treatment his fiancé had given him.

Apparently, Viktor could tell he wasn’t going to sleep because he sat on the edge of the bed facing him. His bangs were brushed out of his eyes and another soft smile came to his lips. “I love you,” Viktor said. “You are such a wonderful man, and I am so happy and lucky to have you in my world,” he said. He had that look in his eyes that their friends had collectively begun to call the ‘Yuuri look’. It came up whenever he was thinking or talking about how wonderful Yuuri was, or even when someone else said something particularly complementary about him.

Then a new look crossed Viktor’s face. “Once I know you’re comfortable, I’m going to go talk to Yurio. He needs to know that comments like that aren’t okay – to you or anyone else. It’s rather ignorant of him, really.”

Without realizing it, Yuuri spoke for the first time since they’d left the locker room. “He wouldn’t have said it if he’d known.”

Viktor jumped a little at hearing Yuuri’s voice again before quickly recovering. “That doesn’t excuse him,” he said, though it wasn’t as harsh as it might have been had they been discussing anyone other than Yuri.

“No, I suppose not,” Yuuri mused. He got a new look in his eyes. Viktor knew he was thinking about something, so he waited patiently without trying to say anything else, a little curious about what he would come up with. “You don’t have to – I mean, maybe I should tell him myself just to be respectful or something – but you can tell him… everything. He probably won’t understand why I got so upset if you don’t tell him, anyway.”

“You have no obligation to tell anyone,” Viktor assured him. “If you truly don’t mind that he knows, though, I think I will tell him.” There was a pause. Then, “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m not ashamed of it, and if he’s truly my friend, then it won’t change anything… except that he won’t say anything like that to me ever again.”

“You are so amazing, my Yuuri,” Viktor said, kissing him on the lips chastely. “Are you settled or do you want me to stay for a while?”

“I’m alright, now. I am pretty sleepy now after that amazing bath. Try not to be gone too late, please. Maybe get some takeout when you're on the way home if it’s close enough to dinner time. I don’t feel like cooking tonight.”

“I could cook,” Viktor offered for the umpteenth time.

“No,” Yuuri said immediately. The last time Viktor had ‘cooked,’ he’d nearly caught the kitchen on fire. He had been without his eyebrows for a while. They still had the eyebrow pencil Viktor had bought for the sake of ‘preserving his appearance.’

“Fine,” Viktor said with a small pout. “I’ll send Makka in to keep you company. Call me if you need anything. Also, I left some chocolate on the kitchen counter for you if you want some when you wake up.”

“I love you so much,” Yuuri said with feeling.

“I love you, too. I’ll see you later today.”

By the time Viktor was closing the bedroom door behind him, Yuuri was already dozing. Makkachin didn't seem very far from doing the same.

 

* * *

 

Yakov opened his apartment door to see Viktor Nikiforov on the other side. He could tell the younger man was there on a mission and not a social visit, and after the way Yuri had returned from the ice that afternoon, he simply pointed in the direction of the teenager’s bedroom to let him know where he was.

Viktor walked past Yakov with a forced smile and then went the way he knew well to Yuri’s room. He opened the door without knocking. “What the hell do you want?” Yuri asked, only glancing up from his phone long enough to see who had intruded on him.

“I want you to understand what happened this afternoon,” he said. “I want you to know that you should never comment on someone’s attitude by saying they are on their period. I want you to know why it was an especially bad time to say it to Yuuri today.”

“Why is what I said such a bad thing? It’s not like I’m the only one who says crap like that,” Yuri pointed out.

“Well, for one thing, you’ve never had a period as far as I know. It’s not fair of you to make assumptions about what it’s like, or to mock the experience when you know nothing about it. Not to mention phrases like that most often stem from a sexist standpoint. I don’t care how many times Mila has gotten on your nerves – sexist remarks are not okay.”

“If it makes you feel better, I’ve never said anything like that to an actual girl before. I just said it to Katsudon today because he was being pissy and I thought he’d just roll his eyes or leave me alone. I didn’t expect it to actually hurt his feelings.” Yuri scoffed. “I guess maybe he’s been called a girl too many times.” He clearly didn’t mean it, didn’t expect it to be true.

“That’s a big part of it, actually,” Viktor said, making Yuri actually look up from his phone to look at him in bemusement.

“We’ll get back to that later. First I have a story I want to tell you.”

“Look, old man. I’m not a little kid. We’re both too old for story-time.”

“Do you want my help with your skating ever again or not?” Viktor threatened.

“Fine,” Yuri huffed. “Tell your story. It had better be really damn good." He crossed his arms and looked at Viktor expectantly

Viktor took a deep breath and let it out. This wasn’t going to be easy for him, but he was going to do it anyway. “Alright Yura, you’re going to listen and pay attention to the whole thing. I’ll tell you in advance that every word of it is true.

“Several years ago, a couple were told they were going to have a child – this would be their second-born. They already had one little girl. They couldn’t wait for their next little one to come into the world. They got excited when the doctor told them this one was a girl as well. She was born only 2 days early, completely healthy.

“She grew up dancing, and this led her to discover she liked ice skating as well. She joined a junior league when she was 10 and loved it.

“Everything was great – her parents and older sister all loved her, but she always felt like something was wrong with her. This got worse after puberty, when her body started changing. She started hating it more than she ever had before.”

Viktor didn’t miss the roll of Yuri’s eyes. He was sure the younger Russian thought he had returned to talking about sexism and periods, but he could at least tell he still had the other’s attention.

“When she turned eighteen, she went to college in another country. There she took a class on gender studies and realized something. After this realization, everything seemed to make perfect sense for the first time ever. It turned out she wasn’t a girl at all. He was just transgender.” Yuri was paying more attention, now. Perhaps he was starting to realize this might be about Yuuri.

“Of course, there is no ‘just’ when it comes to being transgender. He talked to his family when he visited them the next summer, and they were surprisingly supportive, which meant very much to him. The same could not be said for everyone else, unfortunately. Some of his extended family weren't quite as receptive. His roommates were all very rude to him – at least until he finally found a very good one when he was 21. His former skating coach mocked him when he told her he needed to change to men’s figure skating. His next coach was preceded by three others who refused to take him on because he wasn’t a ‘real boy.’ Even some doctors were unaccepting. We won’t even start with what happened on his dates.

“He still didn’t give up or go back to trying to be a girl. He had top surgery and started taking testosterone. He wore his hair differently and finally got rid of all the dresses he never liked to wear and the everyday makeup he hated to put on. Things were not perfect, but he was happier than ever before with himself and the way he was.

“Then the best thing happened. I decided to be his coach. Yes, Yura – this is my Yuuri we’re talking about. He gave me permission to talk to you about it, so I am telling you that he is transgender. He _has_ been called a girl too many times. There is a reason there is no record whatsoever of his figure skating before he turned 19. He also normally would have shrugged off your comment earlier today – though that doesn’t change the fact that I disapprove of you using it. Today, it hit a little differently, though.

“Like I said, he started taking testosterone years ago. What this means for him is getting an injection about once a month. This also means he hasn’t had a period since he was a teenager. There are usually no problems, but apparently something went wrong with the last injection or else he’s going to need to up his dosage – we’ve already made a doctor’s appointment to figure out what the problem is.

“The point I am trying to get to, is that when Yuuri woke up this morning, there was blood in his underwear for the first time in over 5 years. It’s rare but not unheard of for a transgender man who is taking testosterone to have their period return for reasons, but neither of us had expected it to happen to him. He did not react well, and I was almost afraid to leave him by himself this morning until he convinced me he would feel guilty if I stayed home for him ‘over a little blood.’ It was much harder for me to convince him to come to practice this afternoon, but I told him the ice would make him feel better. The ice has always been a safe and relaxing place for him, and I hoped it would be good for him today.

“I’m not saying it’s your fault that all this happened at the same time – that’s purely coincidence and nothing more. I just want you to understand that you do need to be careful with what you say, because you don’t always know how it could affect another person.”

“I’m so sorry, Viktor,” Yuri said. He rarely apologized, especially for things he said, but he knew when he’d crossed a line. That had clearly happened here. “Is he okay, now?”

“He’s alright,” Viktor assured him. He _briefly_ thought about punishing the boy by telling him that Yuuri was in a puddle of grief at home, but he wasn’t cruel. Besides, if that were the case he’d still be home, and they both knew it. “I took him home and gave him a bath and got him in bed. He was asleep with Makkachin when I left.”

“I feel awful,” Yuri said, putting his face in his hands. “How do I fix this?”

“There’s not much to fix,” Viktor said. “Just never say anything like that again – especially to Yuuri – and maybe apologize to him tomorrow. Don’t focus on it, though you can acknowledge it. Questions normally don’t bother him if there’s anything you want to know – as long as you’re not insensitive. Just, don’t try to overcompensate. He’s told me before that it’s almost worse when people do that.”

“Overcompensate?” Yuri asked with a wrinkled nose.

“You know,” Viktor said, before making his voice go lower and rougher, “Why don’t we get some manly-type drinks after this… Let’s arm wrestle, bro… You must be a hit with the ladies… You look like a man who likes to camp out in the woods and chop firewood… Do you like to build things?”

“That’s stupid,” Yuri observed. “I’m not stupid,” he added, then scowled at himself because he thought that sounded like something a stupid person would say.

“Doesn’t mean other people haven’t done it,” Viktor pointed out. “Just remember – he’s still the same figure skater you threatened to knock off the podium yesterday.”

“That wasn’t a threat! That was a promise!”

“Whatever you want to call it. Do you understand what I've said, though?”

“Of course. You must be getting senile, because I just told you I wasn’t stupid,” Yuri grumbled.

“Do you have any questions you want to ask me?” Viktor offered.

“Can I go home with you so I can apologize to him?”

“I would say yes, but I think that for tonight he needs to just rest. He may not even wake up until tomorrow morning, really. You can apologize tomorrow. The two of us are planning to get to practice at 9 in the morning since there are so many sponsorship meetings for the rest of the skaters here.” Viktor knew that Yuri had already met with his sponsors the day before, so he wouldn’t be busy. “Any other questions?”

“Are there any other sensitive topics?” Yuri asked quietly. He was picking at a thread on the sweatshirt he was wearing. Viktor thought it was precious that he thought he could hide his concern.

“Just don’t call him a girl,” Viktor said with a shrug. When Yuri didn’t say anything else, he said, “If that’s all, I think I’ll go home and check on him now.”

“No, I have one more question,” Yuri said, stopping Viktor from standing.

“What is it?” Viktor asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Can you give me the names and addresses of all the other idiots who insulted Katsudon? Because that’s my job!”

“It’s so cute that you’re willing to beat people up for Yuuri, but I’m not going to tell you where to find them. Besides, some of them aren’t even in Russia. As a matter of fact, most of them aren’t in Russia.”

“Are any of them in Russia?”

“Not answering that,” Viktor said, shaking his head.

“Well, what if I told you I didn’t want it so I could beat them up?” Yuri asked.

“I doubt you want to send them a gift basket,” Viktor noted. “So why do you want them?”

“I know people… I can send someone else to beat them up.”

“No, Yurio, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Viktor stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, opening the door and then closing it back behind him.

 

* * *

 

When Viktor got home, he found Yuuri on the couch looking like he’d just woken up. It was so adorable. He was scrolling through his Instagram feed but locked his phone and set it on the couch under his thigh when he saw Viktor come in. Makkachin raised her head from where it had been resting on Yuuri’s feet, but she had just woken up too, so she let it fall back down when she saw Viktor was coming in their direction anyway.

“How’d it go?” Yuuri asked after accepting a kiss from his fiancé.

“Really well,” Viktor said with a smile he was happy to give Yuuri. “He actually asked if he could come home with me so he could apologize, but I told him you needed to rest and he could do that next time you saw each other.”

“And you’re sure he didn’t just want to give me hell?” Yuuri asked, mostly joking.

“I’m sure, my love. Although, I do think we might want to be a little careful around him.”

“Why is that?” Yuuri asked curiously.

“Well, I let him know that other people had given you hell, to use your words, for being trans. He asked for their names and addresses. I said I didn’t want him to go beat people up. He said he never planned on it and that he ‘knew people.’”

“So, what, Yurio has mafia connections?” Yuuri questioned.

“Would that really surprise you?” Viktor asked seriously.

Yuuri thought about it. “No,” he decided. “Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if people from the mafia sent him to go beat people up,” he added, mostly joking.

 ***

The next day, Yuuri and Viktor arrived at the rink when planned. Yuuri was feeling a little better about the whole period thing. He still hated it, but at least he was prepared for the blood when he woke up and had some practice at putting it out of his mind.

They found Yuri waiting for them beside the ice, scrolling his phone. Viktor had to give Yuuri a gentle nudge when the Japanese man paused at the sight of him.

As soon as Yuri heard them approaching, he stuck his phone in his jacket pocket and stood up, turning to face them. “Viktor, Katsudon,” he greeted them, just a little stiffly.

“Yurio,” the older two answered in unison.

“Ugh, just when I think you two can’t come up with more gross couple stuff to do.”

“Glad do know we don’t disappoint,” Viktor said with a grin.

Yuuri smiled, more at ease after the familiar banter. He followed Viktor up to the barriers, but he was stopped when a strange combination of delicacy and strength collided with him in the form of a certain angry Russian kitten. Arms wrapped tightly around him, and he stiffened for a moment due to the sheer novelty of the situation before he wrapped his arms around the blond. He _thought_ he heard Yuri whisper, “I’m sorry and I love you,” but he couldn’t be sure.

Then Yuri had let go of him and was taking his skate guards off so he could get to practice, and the moment was over. “Well, are we here to skate or are we all going to sing Kumbaya?” he yelled at them.

Yuuri and Viktor shared an amused glance before joining Yuri on the ice.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor and Yuuri go to the doctor to find out what went wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As requested, here is what follows the previous chapter's events. It's pretty short and a little later than planned, but I hope you enjoy!

Yuuri and Viktor were sitting in the doctor’s office together. They’d been in the waiting room for 15 minutes, and Yuuri was running out of things to look at to distract himself. He wasn’t in the world of Harry Potter so the boring as hell paintings weren’t moving anytime soon, and the plants were just as inanimate. The only things in the room that moved were people, and Yuuri wasn’t desperate enough to stare at any of them. He _could_ stare at Viktor, but then Viktor would notice how anxious he was and get all worried.

“It’s going to be okay, Yuuri,” Viktor spoke up, setting his phone down on his lap.

Apparently, Viktor was going to notice his anxiety no matter what he did, but that _was_ part of the reason he loved the other man. “How can you be so sure?” he questioned. There were so many things that could go wrong here, so many things that could be wrong.

Viktor’s hand on his thigh brought his attention to the fact he’d been jogging his leg up and down, a nervous tick he was prone to. He let it rest as Viktor said calming words to him. “Because I’m here,” he started with. It was a little corny, but Yuuri would give it to him. “Because we have each other, and nothing can take that from us. No matter what happens here, we can work something out. Whatever it takes to make this okay again, we’ll do it.”

“Yuuri Katsuki,” called a nurse holding a clipboard. Viktor looked a little peeved that he’d been interrupted, but he stood with Yuuri and followed him to the nurse without a word. They were led to an examination room and the nurse began asking questions. Luckily, it was Yuuri’s regular doctor’s office, so there was already a general understanding of Yuuri’s medical history. “What brings you here today?” the nurse asked.

“I think something is off with my testosterone dosage,” Yuuri answered. “I’m currently menstruating and that shouldn’t be happening.”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t be,” the nurse agreed as he started typing something on the laptop he had with him. “When did you last administer a dose?”

“Two weeks ago. My regular schedule is once every four weeks.”

“That’s really strange,” the nurse said. “I would expect this to happen to you just before it was time for your next injection - if at all - rather than right in the middle. That indicates a very drastic change, and normally the body won’t change that rapidly.”

“What are you saying?” Viktor asked concernedly.

“Well, it’s uncommon, but sometimes your prescription will be put into the pharmacy's database wrong when you get a refill. When did you last need to call in for refills?”

“Last month,” Yuuri answered. They’d looked at all the numbers before they left home to prepare themselves for any possible questions, so he didn’t have to think about the answer for long.

“Let me go make a few calls and we’ll see if we can’t figure out exactly what happened.” He left the couple alone.

Yuuri felt relief. He’d been sure they were going to spend months getting his dosage correct again, but if it was just a screw up with the pharmacy then it was easily fixed. He should be back to normal soon. A glance at Viktor told him that his fiancé wasn’t feeling quite the same. “What’s wrong?” he found himself asking.

“What do you think?” Viktor retorted, sounding a little pissed off. Luckily, Yuuri had known him long enough to tell that it wasn’t directed at him. “Somebody was careless and screwed up your prescription, and now you’re in pain. That’s not okay.”

“Vitya, it’s fine. This just means we can easily fix what happened. Everything will be normal again soon.”

“It means that it should have never happened in the first place! This could have been avoided. What kind of pharmacy can't even get numbers accurate? Everything should already be normal!”

Yuuri realized Viktor wasn’t going to be talked down easily. He was righteously angry, and part of Yuuri appreciated that it was on his behalf. He still knew it wouldn’t fix anything, though. “Let’s just wait until he comes back and see if that’s what happened,” Yuuri said, trying to placate him. He didn’t want Viktor to bite the nurse’s head off when he came back if it was really no one’s fault, if it really was a change in his body.

“Fair enough,” Viktor said. He didn’t say anything more while they waited, but he still looked angry. There was no change in his expression when the nurse returned, but at least he didn’t yell at the poor guy.

“I checked our files just to be certain, and everything was normal on our end. Then I called the pharmacy you use. It seems someone got lazy when they were entering numbers in their computer. They skipped someone up the line on accident and messed up 5 different people’s prescriptions, including yours, Mr. Katsuki. They’ve since corrected the errors in the system. There’s nothing we can do for you at the moment, but you should be fine if you get the correct dosage in your system next month. I talked to the manager there, and she’s promised that if you bring the incorrect dosages in, they’ll exchange them for the correct ones at no extra charge and give you a gift card for the inconvenience.”

Yuuri was about to say ‘thank you’ when he looked over at Viktor. He seemed even angrier now.

“Is that supposed to fix it?” he demanded. “We can’t do anything about this for two weeks, and they expect that freely giving us something we should already have is going to make up for it? And they’re giving us a gift card for the inconvenience? I think calling it an inconvenience is very generous on their part. I think we’d be better off going to a different pharmacy.”

Yuuri thought about telling Viktor to calm down, that it was impossible to undo the mistake and at least they were _trying_ to make up for it. The nurse seemed to be on the same page, though. “I’d be happy to transfer you somewhere else. There are several places I could recommend. You might be interested in knowing that I actually suggested to the manager that the employee responsible should be fired, and she told me that they believed in second chances there. I doubt she’d keep her opinion if it had been one of her loved ones who had their prescription messed up. If you want to follow me to the front desk, we can get started on that.”

Viktor looked at Yuuri to make sure he was okay with switching pharmacies, and Yuuri shrugged indifferently. He would have been alright with staying where they were just because it _was_ convenient, but the other two had a point. It was certainly clear that Viktor would be happier at a different pharmacy, so he would let him do what he wanted.

They followed the nurse to the front desk where he sat behind a computer and started typing quickly. “Alright, I’ve got a few options for you. Would you like to keep going to one that will mail your things to you?”

Viktor and Yuuri met eyes and then Yuuri said, “Yes, please.”

“Okay, I guess you want to use a completely different company?”

“Yes,” Viktor answered immediately.

“I’ve got one here that looks like it would be a good fit.” He turned his computer screen around so they could read about the location and assets of the company.

Once again, Yuuri and Viktor met each other’s eyes in agreement and told the nurse it sounded good.

“Perfect,” the nurse said. “You two are good to go. Have a nice day!”

“Thank you for all your help,” Yuuri said with a smile.

“You have a good day, too,” Viktor added before they went out the door and headed home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated :)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought if you have the time. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Once again: If anything I have said is in any way offensive, let me know. I may not have noticed/thought about whatever it is. I can't fix it if I don't know about it.
> 
> I did a little research on testosterone in the context of FTM, and what I gathered is that the cheapest way to administer it is through an injection 1-4 times a month. It also seemed to be the simplest (this coming from someone who knows nothing about what it's actually like, so take what I say with a grain of salt). I also read that once you start T, menstruation slows down and then stops. It should stay that way unless your dosage of testosterone is insufficient for you, whether that be a change in your body's needs or a change in the dosage itself. I didn't do extensive research on this (maybe I should have, but to be fair I didn't originally intend to post this and it was 3:00 in the morning), so this could all be completely wrong. In other words, don't quote me on it.
> 
> For anyone curious about why this happened specifically, I imagined that there was a screw-up in the doctor's office and Yuuri was given a dosage meant for someone else. Cue Viktor's protective instincts because some idiot put his precious baby through some pain for no reason. (Do I have a thing for protective Viktor? Yes, probably.) I didn't see any reason to post that part of the story, but if anyone wants to read the fully written-out version, let me know and I'll put it up for you.


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